The Other Side of Lost in Translation

2009年10月29日木曜日

Japanese Actors Do Not Look Like Japanese!?? Part1

The other day, I had an argument over this subjecton some movie discussion board.

One guy wrote that he thought actors did not look like Japanese when he started to watch Japanese films such as Kurosawa's and Ozu's.

So I stated that actors in Japanese films did not look like Japanese to him because he was not used to seeing nice looking Asian/Japanese as he had not seen them in any American media.For Americans, Asian are not supposed to be good looking. Therefore handsome actors in Japanese film did not look Japanese to this person.

In American media, you do not see many Asians. And when you see them, usually they are very very stereo types. Simply nice lookig Asian men do not exist in American media. Well, a few exceptions maybe.But basically, in American media, Asian men are geeky ugly gumps,And Asian women are exotic play-things who love to serve White men.Casting directors do not chose handsome Asians because they think good looking ones do not look Asians enough.

Here is a good example.

Mashi Oka from the hit TV show "Heroes"

As he hated this accusation about the racism againt Asians in American media, he just did not want to admit it. I understood that.So he started to write about Japanese propaganda films in Korea during pre-war era, which were nothing but ridiculous justifications of Japanese occupation over Korea.I guess he wanted to say that Japanese media could be very bias too.

Anyway, after this argument, I started to wonderif what I wrote to him was right or not.

Just look at some handsome guys in current Japanese media.

Kenji Sakaguchi (Actor)

Hiroshi Abe (Actor)

Tomoya Hase (Actor/Musician)

Takeshi Kaneshiro (Actor)

Kazuki Kitamura (Actor)

Ken Hirai (Singer)

Satoshi Tsumabuki (Actor)

Hidetoshi Nakata (Soccor Player)

With the exception of Nakata, they all have large eyes and tall nose, which are not Asians facial characteristics,even Nakata has a relatively tall nose as an Asian.Does this mean they do not look like Asians?Well, at least I can say the majority of Japanese men do not look like them, that's for sure.

Hmmmmmm......

If I sit by the window of Sturbacks in New York and keep looking outside, people walking down the street,do I see many of those who look like Hollywood Stars?"NOPE!"But at least, I can say many White people do have large eyes and tall nose relative to Asians.

So if the beaty standard of media in Japan is "large eyes and tall nose", probably it came from America or any European countries as most of Japanese do not have them.

2009年10月28日水曜日

City Wide Gentrifications, Who Really Got Benefited?

During '70s, New York city had really detariorated.When I got here, which was in 1983,Alphabet city, which was the east side of Avenue A of Manhattan,East Harlem and South Bronx were like War zones.After so many fire caused by the arson,those areas looked like the bombed-by-the-airraid zones.And many other areas looked so shabby.

In '80s, the city started the gentrificationsand in '90s, under the Giuliani ministration,it was really intensified.He had cleaned up Time Square Area completely,where used to be a horrible dump,porn theatres, adult stores and peep show places lined up,whores, pimps & pushers loitered all the time,and so many tourists were mugged violently.Miraculously it turned out to be Disneyland looking area within four years or so.Many other areas' gentrifications followedlike 14th street & Union square and Meat market Area.

Over all, New York has become much cleaner and safer,that is definitely great.But besides them, what other aspects of our city lives did they improve?Hmmmm, nothing much.And because of the gentrifications,the rent conditions has become totally out of control,and that has caused the huge price increase on everything.

For the last 20 yeasr, in my area, East Village,the rent has got higher 6-8 times!The price of groceries has, at least, doubled.The subway fare has increased from 50cents to $2.25.

And the minimum pay is still $7,which means, after tax, you bring home less than $1000.

The city let big developers use the public loan with the very low interest.The current mayor, Blomberg, the self-made super rich guy,is seeking for his third term.Today I saw a middle aged, middle class white woman talking on TV,and she said that she believed his business skills would lead this city to the right way.

If you think someone can become that rich only with honest & hard working, you are too naive. And apparently there are too many naive people are living in this city and they will vote for him again.Only the people who know how to manipulate and exploite the system can become rich like Blomberg. And rich poloticians do politics for riches, not for the middle class and the poors.To me, it is such a easy logic, but it seems so many people do not understand and they do admire riches.He will be the mayor again and you will be squeezed out more & more if you are not rich.

2009年10月10日土曜日

What is really Enka?

Shinjuku no Onna(Woman of Shinjuku) Keiko Fuji

Even if I could transform myself to a manI would stick to being a womanFor a butterfly who lives in a town of neon lightsThose words were too sweet to resistWhat a foolWhat a fool I amTo be tricked like thatThis night is too chillyI'm a woman of Shinjuku

How many times did I cry over you?Yet, I was still stuck on you'Cos I believed someday you would understand meIf I kept devoting myselfWhat a foolWhat a fool I amTo be tricked like thatThis night is too chillyI'm a woman of Shinjuku

Being teary as I dreamed of YouSitting by the lonesome bar counter in late nightEven you are the guy who just threw me away like a beer tap What a foolWhat a fool I amTo be tricked like thatThis night is too chillyI'm a woman of Shinjuku

*Shinjuku is one of the biggest night life districts of Tokyo,and they got tons of bars, cabarets, clubs and many different types of establishments where women provide some sort of sexual services.

"A butterfly who lives in a town of neon lights"means a woman who works in a night life industry,which is called "Mizu Shoubai(水商売 Water Business)."She is most likely a Bar maid or a Bar hostess,or can be a prostitute as well.Generally speaking, women who work in night life districtsare considered to be the lowest rank of the society.

This is the first big hit of Keiko Fujiwho was a very popular Enka singer in early '70s,and now she is also known to be a mother of very popular J-pop singer, Hikaru Utada.Enka is a traditional Japanese popular song,most of them are sad ballads lamenting over lost love,in which a woman almost always have to endurethe egoism of men, the sadness of love-relationship and the hardships of life in general.

When I was a kid, I hated Enkaas musically and lyricwise they were too old fashioned for me.Whenever Enka singer appeared on TV,I wished he/she/they would have finished his/her/their song as soon as possible.

But now as I have grown older I can dig this song and understand why Japanese have supported songs like this for a long time even I still do not like Enka much.

After War, Japanese economy recovered in a miraculous pace,and within 30 years, Japan's GNP became #2 in the world,only second to U.S.How could they do that?Everybody was starving and all major cities were burned downto the ruins at the end of War.Well, men who had been educated to be loyal soldiers to their countrybecame a soldier-like workers for their employers, and for the Japanese economy in general.What they had to do was to suppress themselves as a individualand devote themselves to their employersby working harder and longer as they could.And after a long day's work, they went to small barswhere women welcomed them to have a couple of drinks and lament over their lives like a beast of burden.Those men loved Enka.

I think the reason that most of Enka songs were about a woman having a hardships wasthat men were supposed not to cryor even rant about their hardships.When men listened to Enka,they could relate themselves as people with small, insecure, hard and exploited lives.In a traditional male-oriented society like Japan, women were always exploited.Yet, men felt they were exploited too,and unlike women, they even could not cry.Enka provided an emotional outlet for those Japanese men,small soldiers of the economic war.I think I can say Enka was a blues for Japanese until like '80s.

The very first two lines of the lyric of "Shinjuku no Onna",

"Even if I could transform myself to a manI would stick to being a woman"

This means that I do not want to be a man,even though I know a woman have to be exploited and have to endure a hard life in this society,because I still do have a pride as a small human.

This pride was what Japanese called "Iji(意地)."Many Japanese tried to be stuck on this IJIwhenver they felt they were overwhelmed by their own lives.And that small pride kept many Japanese alive.

Many Enka singers told their own hardships to their audience.I remember the story I read about Keiko Fuji on the kids' magazine when I was like 10 years old.As she had many siblings and her parents were traveling entertainers,they usually left some rice and some money to kidsbefore they took off to their travel.So kids cooked rice everyday and bought something like croquets from stores near by.However, money always went out before parents came home,and after that kids had to put some soy sauce over riceand that was their meals for the last few days to few weeks.

I remember I gasped when I read this story.My family was not wealthy but still the life like that was unthinkable to me.

As I grew older and have learned one or two of hardships of life,Enka sounds more familier to me now.

What a foolWhat a fool am ITo be tricked like thatThis night is too chillyFor a stray cat like me in New York

2009年10月1日木曜日

between this world and that world

Ryoko Yamazaki,山岸涼子, is one of my favorite manga artists,I mean she is really an artist.Though she created so many masterpieces,this particular one left a big impact in me like nothing else.It is called "Yomotsuhirasaka 黄泉比良坂"which means somewhere between this world and the "after death" world.

Not agreeing with her husband on their divorce,a cold-hearted woman was killed by himwho wanted to be with other woman.

Because she had died with so much hatered, she could not go to heaven or hell,and her soul is just roaming somewhere between this world and that world.

Suddenly she woke up surrounded by pure darkness and silence,then she realized that she did not have any of her body parts,therefore she could not ask any help,but eventually she started to see something fuzzy,sometimes she hears water is dripping or the sound of winds,sometimes she has glimps of other roaming souls like hers,but they are gone quickly,and most of the time, she is alone, so alone.

I am addicted with internet, spending so much time on my computer.And when I am in this internet world, I feel like my lonely soul roaming around seeking warmth of others,but not able to touch anything or communicate with anyonein the way I really need to do.I am physically alive but still pretty much same as a dead woman whose lonely soul is roaming around forever.

I hop one site to the other, one blog to the other,search something, open up some pages, read a bit, hear a bit,sometimes leave a message or two and move on,keep roaming and still I'm alone.

自己紹介

I love animals, especially cats and Shiba inus. I love flowers too. Not having much reason to live, this depressive solitary nerd is too lazy to die. I think I would become a ghost and keep looking for my cats after my death.